Patients with chronic anemias such as thalassemia or sickle cell anemia often require regular red blood cell transfusions. Repeated transfusions result in toxic, and eventually fatal, accumulation of iron as insoluble ferritin in various tissues of the body. This chronic iron overload occurs due to the body's inability to actively eliminate iron. Chronic iron overload is a serious condition and organ failure can occur due to the resulting iron deposits. When the heart or liver are affected, the condition may be life threatening. Iron overload is treated by administration of iron chelators, which mobilize the iron deposits into soluble complexes that can be excreted from the body. The currently available first-line iron chelator, deferoxamine (Desferal®), requires intravenous or slow subcutaneous infusion over a period of 8-12 h, 5-7 times per week. This has resulted in low patient compliance of the product. Deferoxamine can also cause local and systemic reactions. An orally available iron chelator, deferiprone, also has a short duration of action and may be associated with serious side effects. Novartis therefore embarked on a major research program to identify oral iron chelators, which ultimately led to a completely new class of compounds, the bishydroxyphenyltriazoles. The best compound from this class was found to be deferasirox (ICL-670A), an orally active tridentate compound which is FDA approved and is marketed under the trade name Exjade® for the treatment of transfusion-dependent chronic iron overload (transfusional hemosiderosis) [Drugs of the Future 2004, 29(4): 331-335].
Deferasirox has the chemical name 4-[3,5-Bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl]benzoic acid, and is represented by the following structural Formula (1):

U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,504 discloses substituted 3,5-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazoles and their use as pharmaceutical metal chelators. This patent describes a process for the preparation of 4-[3,5-Bis(2-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazol-1-yl]benzoic acid (deferasirox) (1) that involves the condensation of salicylamide (2) with salicyloyl chloride (3) by heating at 170° C. yielding 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-benz[e][1,3]oxazin-4-one (5), which reacts with 4-hydrazinobenzoic acid (6) in refluxing ethanol to give (1) (Scheme 1):

High reaction temperature (170° C.), evolution of corrosive and hazardous HCl gas and low overall yield (<50%) makes this process expensive and not feasible on an industrial scale.
U.S. Appln. Publication No. 2005/080120 provides another method for the preparation of deferasirox analogues. This process is also described in Eur. J. Inorg. Chem. 2004, 4177-4192, and consists of two stages. The first stage, formation of 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-benzo-4H-[1,3]-oxazin-4-one, involves a reaction of salicylic acid and salicylamide with thionyl chloride in the presence of pyridine under reflux in xylene or toluene with vigorous stirring over a period of 4 h. An intense evolution of SO2 and HCl was noted. At the end of the addition, the product started to crystallize. Stirring was continued for an additional 30 min, and the solvent was removed by distillation at reduced pressure. The resulting solid residue was suspended in EtOH and acetic acid. The mixture was heated gently and then allowed to cool to 20° C. The precipitate was filtered and recrystallized from 2-methoxyethanol, providing the desired compound with 50-55% yield. The second stage proceeded according to previously mentioned patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,465,504) and consists of reaction of 2-(2-hydroxy phenyl)-benzo-4H-[1,3]-oxazin-4-one with 4-hydrazinobenzoic acid in boiling ethanol. The reported yield of this stage was 80%.
Although this process is more technological than the one based on molding salicylamide in salicyloyl chloride, the overall yield is still moderate (40-45%). The moderate yield can be attributed to the formation of by-products—a mixture of the linear and cyclic polyesters (for example, (7)) as a result of intermolecular reaction of salicyloyl chloride [Chinese J. Struct. Chem., 2003, 22(5): 512-516] (Scheme 2):

Therefore, there is a need for a process, in which no significant heating is required and the formation of polyesters as well as corrosive and hazardous gases such as HCl is minimized or avoided.
Deferasirox belongs to the family of substituted 1,2,4-triazoles, heterocycles possessing important pharmacological activities such as antifungal and antiviral activities. Methods for the synthesis of 1,2,4-triazoles are well described in literature [See, for example, review “1,2,4-TRIAZOLES: SYNTHETIC APPROACHES AND PHARMACOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE” in Chemistry of Heterocyclic Compounds, 2006, 42(11): 1377-1403], but most of these methods are not suitable for the construction of 1,3,5-substituted 1,2,4-triazoles.
A preparation of substituted 3,5-diphenyl-1,2,4-triazoles [I] structurally close to deferasirox can be found in European Patent No. 0572142, and can be achieved by a reaction between an alkyl N-acyl(thio)imidate derivative, having a general formula [II], and a hydrazine derivative of a general formula [III] in an inert solvent, according to the following scheme:

The starting compound of the general formula [II] was prepared by reacting the imine [IV] with the halogen anhydride [V] in the presence of a base according to the following scheme:

This process involves usage of more complicated starting materials than those used in deferasirox processes. Such materials are not commercially available and their preparation enlarges the number of steps and needs for intermediate isolation at each step.
Another method presented in the abovementioned patent consists of the reaction of hydrazonoyl chloride [VI] with nitriles via a nitrilium ion (generated from [VI] and aluminum chloride):

Although this method gives the desired material at a good yield, it is more complicated (high number of steps, commercially unavailable starting materials and intermediates which require further isolation and purification).
Consequently, there is a long-felt need for a process for the preparation deferasirox which not only overcomes the problems in the art processes as mentioned above, but is also safe, cost effective, and industrially feasible.
Polymorphism, the occurrence of different crystal forms, is a property of some molecules and molecular complexes. A single molecule, like deferasirox may give rise to a variety of crystalline forms having distinct crystal structures and physical properties like melting point, x-ray diffraction pattern, infrared absorption fingerprint, and solid state NMR spectrum. One crystalline form may give rise to thermal behavior different from that of another crystalline form. Thermal behavior can be measured in the laboratory by such techniques as capillary melting point, thermogravimetric analysis (“TGA”), and differential scanning calorimetry (“DSC”), which have been used to characterize crystal forms. A new form of a compound may possess physical properties that differ from, and are advantageous over, those of other crystalline or amorphous forms. These include, packing properties such as molar volume, density and hygroscopicity; thermodynamic properties such as melting temperature, vapor pressure and solubility; kinetic properties such as dissolution rate and stability under various storage conditions; surface properties such as surface area, wettability, interfacial tension and shape; mechanical properties such as hardness, tensile strength, compatibility, handling, flow and blend; and better filtration properties. Variations in any one of these properties affect the chemical and pharmaceutical processing of a compound as well as its bioavailability and may often render the new form advantageous for medical use.
Several polymorphs of deferasirox are known in the art. Publication number IPCOM000 146862D describes a crystalline form of deferasirox, designated form I, characterized by X-ray powder diffraction having peaks at about 13.2, 14.1 and 16.6±0.2 degrees 20. Form I may be further characterized by X-ray powder diffraction having peaks at about 6.6, 10.0, 10.6, 20.3, 23.1, 25.7 and 26.2±0.2 degrees 2θ and by an X-ray powder diffraction pattern depicted in FIG. 1.
WO 2008/094617, filed by Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, describes three crystalline forms of deferasirox, designated Forms II, III and IV (a THF solvate). WO 2008/065123, filed by Novartis, describes other crystalline forms of deferasirox, designated Forms A, B, C and D, as well as an amorphous form of deferasirox, and deferasirox solvates designated Forms SA and SB. WO 2009/016359, filed by Pliva Hrvatska D.O.O, describes five crystalline forms of deferasirox, designated Forms I-V, and four amorphous forms designated Forms I-IV.
There still remains an unmet need for advantageous solid state forms of deferasirox having good physiochemical properties, desirable bioavailability, and advantageous pharmaceutical parameters.